


Dar

by koalathebear



Category: Homeland
Genre: Angst, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-18
Updated: 2015-12-18
Packaged: 2018-05-07 09:39:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5452019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/koalathebear/pseuds/koalathebear
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Strange thing that just hopped into my head last night.</p><p>Starts some time after episode 4.12/before season 5.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dar

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this on 18 December 2015 so it was written before episode 5.12 aired on 20 December 2015! :)

"It's good to see you again, Peter," Dar Adal murmurs after the debriefing session. "I was surprised when Rob said that you'd agreed to go to Syria after all - he'd said that your initial response was to say no."

"I changed my mind." Quinn's response is brief and uninformative, his face grim and closed off.

"I know you're just back state-side, Peter, but I need you to go back to Al-Raqqah province. Plan is that US air strikes will prepare targets for surgical intervention by special forces, first against Assad, then al-Nusra and then against the Islamic State. We're assembling a special ops team and I want you to head it up."

Quinn's face remains expressionless. He's quiet for a long moment and then asks. "Did Carrie contact you while I was in Syria?"

_What are you playing at, Carrie?_

_I call it give me what I fucking want._

There's not the slightest trace of acknowledgment or emotion on Dar's face as he responds. "Carrie? Carrie Mathison?" He pretends to think for a moment. "No ... I remember that you had quite the soft spot for her. Last I'd heard, she had resigned after a falling out with Saul and moved to Europe with her daughter. No word from her since."

Quinn's gaze becomes harder and the faint hope in his light eyes flickers and then dies. He shrugs. "Whatever you need," he says as he stands. "Rob knows how to find me."

Dar Adal watches him leave. After a few minutes, he reaches into his top drawer and retrieves a white envelope with Carrie Mathison's name on it. He pulls the note out from inside the envelope and re-reads it even though he's read the note so many times he knows it by heart.

He frowns. He thought he'd taught Peter Quinn better than this. Weakness like this could get a man killed. 

*

Dar Adal stares at the image on the screen, swallowing hard as he listens to the harsh voice of the man making the demands. He stares at Peter Quinn, tall and straight, blinking furiously ... betrayed by his body as the fluid starts spilling from his eyes, nose and mouth ... 

"Jesus Christ," Dar mutters below his breath.

Saul's equally shaken.

"May we have the room, please?" It's not a request and the staff leave quietly. "You've seen the video?" he asks Saul, although he already knows the answer from the look in Saul's eyes.

"Unbelievable."

Dar feels the tears stinging in his eyes. 

*

"And why the fuck didn't you tell me that you knew Quinn had fallen in with a group of Jihadis?" Saul demands heatedly.

"Probably the same reason you didn't tell me he was running an operation with you here in Berlin - names in a letter box..." Dar Adal snaps. 

"Clearly I was right to keep it close," Saul counters.

"Not close enough if your operation was compromised," Dar retorts. 

"By Allison."

"You don't know that," Dar replies. He glares at his colleague. "He wouldn't be in this situation if not for Carrie," he bites out almost childishly.

"You can't seriously be blaming Carrie for this. Someone targeted her - Quinn saved her life."

"And got himself shot in the process."

"Not Carrie's fault that he was unlucky enough to be captured by the Jihadis."

"You're as blind to her faults as Peter is." Dar mutters spitefully. "Be careful - you don't want to end up dead like him."

"You're fucking crazy," Saul tosses over his shoulder as he leaves the room.

Dar stares at the wall grimly. He stands by his judgment. Peter Quinn's had always been one of his best men - his success stories. Matter-of-fact, efficient and almost effortless in his deadliness. Just point and shoot - the good soldier and unswerving in his obedience to duty. Then he came into Carrie Mathison's chaotic sphere of influence and everything had changed - and not for the better.

*

Dar can't believe it when he hears that Peter Quinn is alive. Although standing at the foot of Peter's bed at Landstuhl Medical Center, his best operative looks more dead than alive - in respiratory failure due to acute hypoxia.

Saul and Carrie had demanded that the doctor wake Quinn in the vain hope that he might have some information about the imminent attack. This had been done with the full knowledge that it could have resulted in a massive seizure, cerebral hemorrhage or death. It had been a spectacular failure, yielding nothing. Nonetheles, despite Allison Carr's misinformation, Carrie had somehow managed to avert the attack. Sometimes he had to wonder if the woman got things done through sheer willpower.

It had been a good day. No one had died. Dar stares at the man on the hospital bed. 

Yet.

"Good work," Dar tells Carrie reluctantly, the words sticking his his throat. She looks exhausted but she's sitting at Peter's bedside, half-slumped in her chair. 

"Thanks," she replies, a little startled at the unexpected words of praise.

"How's he doing?" he asks. Carrie shrugs, a sheen of tears in her eyes.

"Not good. They didn't put him back in a coma but he's not said a word since they woke him up ... doesn't seem like there's brain damage but ..." her voice trails off. "Does he have any family - anyone who he cares about ... someone he'd come back for?" she asks unexpectedly.

Dar ignores her question. "Let me know if there is any change in his condition.

*

Carrie stifles a yawn as she leans back in her chair and takes a swallow of coffee from her styrofoam cup. It's cold and more than a little disgusting. 

"Shit," she exclaims when she sees Dar Adal standing silently in the doorway of Quinn's hospital room like a black and menacing shadow. "How long have you been standing there?" she demands, glaring at him.

He doesn't reply and walks into the room. "No change?" he asks.

"His breathing is a little better..." she offers. "I think he can hear me...can't be certain though."

"Keep trying."

Carrie stares up at Dar Adal warily. He's always seemed like such a dark and sinister individual. He opens his mouth as if to speak but then falls silent for a moment. "Peter doesn't have family ... but ..." He reaches into his pocket and drops a white envelope in front of Carrie. "You." He swallows hard. "He'll come back for you."

He leaves the room and Carrie stares down at the envelope with her name on it and she reaches down to pick it up with hands that are not quite steady.


End file.
